USED Vauxhall Zafira MPV (05 - )

My car

I have had this car on a three-day test drive. The first couple of hours in the driving seat convinced me that this would be my next car. 300 miles later I couldn't wait to give it back.

There was no lumber adjustment and the upright driving position gave me backache after one long journey.

It has a very notchy gear change and soggy throttle, which together make for quite tiring town driving. It's also noisy, with wind, road and engine noise.

To cap it all, I had to wait 30 minutes for the salesman at the dealership to finish his conversation with a workmate before I could hand the keys back.

My car

A bus of a car - no pull no fun, badly underpowered which leaves the you feeling exposed when overtaking an uncomfortable seating position which doesn't allow you to get far enough from the steering wheel. Vision while driving is generally ok but obscured by chunky A posts.

The rear washer is a joke requiring frequent long blasts to keep any kind of visibility. The hand brake is a triumph of design over practicality and the front arm rest looks as though it was hastily added at the last minute. Add to this Vauxhalls annoying and clumsy indicators and user unfriendly radio I am left amazed that this car has won awards.

Fuel economy is not bad at around 42mpg over 11k but well short of the stated 46.5 probably due to the heavy right foot required to gain any kind of performance

My car

I have had an ongoing problem with fuel economy and road noise since buying this car from new.

It's now a year and a half later. I have had car with the dealer about six times to look at the fuel economy and also for noise. I am getting nowhere with resolving the problem.

I have read Hugh Tippett of Surrey's review. He is a lucky man to get it sorted out.

I mentioned this to my dealer and apparently Vauxhall have no records of anyone having these problems and how they were fixed !

My car

It's very well-built and has more solidity than the previous model. It's not that agile and the automatic gearbox and diesel engine is whiney.

The Panoramic sunroof and overhead lockers work well and the interior materials are of a high-quailty. The middle bench needs to be moved forward to access the third bench, which is awkward, and the spare wheel is sited under the floor, making it easy to steal.